What do rocket engines and contraceptives have in common? Frank Lab starts with a bang

A crowdfunding platform for the agriculture and energy sectors, a social enterprise connecting busy parents with ‘moncierges’, an online bank, sugar-free ice-cream, a digital finance assistant, rocket engines, cutting-edge contraceptive technology and an online wine retailer that donates half its profit to charities are some of the innovative start-up projects that have won a spot in Frank Lab, Hall & Wilcox’s accelerator program for emerging businesses.

Twelve organisations were selected to participate in the inaugural Frank Lab program, which offers legal support, L&D and networking opportunities during a 12-month program that will help the start-ups as they develop their businesses.

The head of the Frank team at Hall & Wilcox, James Bull, said the program had received dozens of applications from a large range of start-up business, both for profit and for impact.

‘We’re excited to be working side by side with these really promising and diverse businesses,’ he said.

‘Our cohort is so diverse and we’re looking forward to drawing upon our broad range of legal and other expertise to support these businesses as they grow and develop.’

Frank advisory board member Jessica May said the Frank Lab program offered the participants a fantastic opportunity to build solid business foundations right from the start.

‘Legal advice is something that most startups don’t realise how important it is. You are so focused on getting your business off the ground and getting your first revenue in but you need to make sure that you have all your bases covered. Whether that is just getting your share structure right or ensuring you have privacy protections in place for your users, having the right advice from the beginning is invaluable,’ she said.

The successful Frank Lab applicants are:

Ag Crowd	A crowdfunding platform for the agriculture and energy sectors. Using equity crowdfunding, it enables sustainable technology companies to raise capital from retail and wholesale investors.
Atticus	A technology company offering corporate lawyers cloud-based software to efficiently and accurately verify investor disclosure documents.
Bit-e	Aims to become a Neobank, combining traditional and digital banking services, that offers a full suite of banking products and services online only.
Denada	The manufacturer of an Australian-made, sugar-free ice-cream.
Eudaemon Technologies	The creator of a new contraceptive that utilises innovative hydrogel technology and will improve global sexual health and contraceptive outcomes.
Frankie Financial	Frankie connects the best of breed compliance providers to provide one API, one platform, one unifying view for KYC onboarding and AML monitoring.
Future Smith	Australia’s first online platform to empower volunteers, particularly from the Baby Boomer generation, to lead and manage their own community projects.
Gobbill	A digital finance assistant that automates bill payments using artificial intelligence for households and small businesses.
Goodwill Wine	An online wine retailer that gives away 50% of its profit to charities and has already raised almost $250,000.
m-Time	A social enterprise providing busy parents with ‘moncierges’, all-in-one personal assistants who combine housekeeping and nannying tasks into one role.
NextAero	A pioneer in aerospace technology that has developed bleeding-edge reusable rocket engines for small satellite launchers.
QuadIQ	A managed cyber-security service provider and security product development enterprise.